The City Government of Davao- City Social Welfare and Development Office will conduct a series of information drives in Indigenous People communities to educate them on the Anti-Child Marriage Act.
CSWDO Julie P. Dayaday, during the Madayaw Davao Radio program interview on Thursday, said that their office has set the schedule with their district heads for the info drive in the identified areas.
“We are aware nga naa ta’y [anti-child] marriage act, pero kulang pa gyud, naa pa ta’y kakulangan sa pagpahibalo, because this is a culture, dili baya basta basta, culture, belief. Ang kinahanglan mahinay hinay nato’g transform, mao na siya nga maghatag ta’g orientasyon on the Anti-Child Marriage Law or RA 11596 or An Act Prohibiting the Practice of Child Marriage and Imposing Penalties, for our Indigenous na kaigsuunan (We are aware of the existence of the early marriage act but it is still not enough, we still need to teach about this more, because this is about culture, it is not easy to change, it needs to be slowly transformed, this is the reason why we give this orientation on the Anti Child Marriage Law or RA 11596 or An Act Prohibiting Practice of Child Marriage and Imposing penalties for our Indigenous brothers and sisters),” Dayaday said.
“Kini para masilsil sa huna-huna sa atong Dabawenyos, labi na nga naa ta’y bag-o nga balaod, dili pwede ihiklib ni siya (This is done to instill to the minds of Dabawenyos our new laws that should be cascaded),” Dayaday said.
She said that as a form of compensation for opportunity loss for the livelihood for the time devoted to listening to their info drive, food packs will be given to the families.
The info drive will cover 72, 846 beneficiaries in Paquibato, Marilog, Toril, Baguio, Calinan, and Tugbok and will start in the first week of December.
She said that they chose December as the month for the conduct of the activity because there is no other time to conduct it, and at the same time to prevent the IPs from going down to the city centers.
Dayaday said that the input on the new law is very important because it helps participants understand that it is intended for the protection of their children.
“Kinahanglan nato paspasan ang info drive kay dili ni siya maging dali. Balik balikon gyud nato hangtod naa na siya sa sistema and aduna na’y change of behavior (We need to do this fast because this will not be easy. We will repeat this until it will be incorporated in the system, and there will be a behavior change),” she said.
To have an efficient info drive, Dayaday said that they will conduct it simultaneously in the districts, augmented by social workers from districts without IP constituents.
Dayaday said that they will include Badjao in the orientation of this law to also guide them.
They also made sure that the materials were easy to understand to enable the participants to know fully well the purpose of the law. CIO
